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Shopping Portal
There are many ways to earn points and miles and shopping portals allow you to earn travel rewards without leaving the house. Cash back shopping portals for online shopping, also known as cash back portals are the EASIEST way to save money, let me reiterate this point because it’s really important, it requires almost no additional effort on your part and can save you tons of cash on almost all of your purchases.
Online shopping portals and cash back apps allow you to earn real money just for shopping as you normally would. All you have to do is sign up for an account and choose the store you would like to shop at from the list of available retailers on the website or app. You click through to your desired store through a link on the site to be taken to the store’s website and continue with your purchase as usual. The site tracks your purchase and awards you the stated percentage of the purchase amount as cash or points into your account (Rakuten offers Amex Membership Rewards Points). When the cashback in your account is confirmed and payable you can withdraw it in several ways depending on the site. Some examples of ways to redeem your cash or points are deposits to bank accounts, PayPal accounts or your choice of gift cards etc.
If this sounds too good to be true, it helps to understand how all the parties involved get paid. Retailers, say Adidias for example will pay a portion of your order total to the cashback site that referred you. SO think of it as a kickback for bringing you in as a customer, the portal then pays you a portion of that commission.
We all love a deal or a juicy discount and no one except me has the time to research all of the options, so this guide covers some of my favorites. All you have to do is sign up for a free account and remember to start on the portal page before heading to your shopping site. I’ve included my own referral links where applicable and you’ll be able to do the same with your friends once you have an account!
Shopping Portals Comparison
When you’re shopping online, you can easily earn rewards using one of the best credit cards for online shopping. Even better, you can often double-dip on rewards by clicking through an online shopping portal before making online purchases. Online shopping portals for earning cash-back aren’t your only option for the type of rewards you can earn. Credit card rewards programs like Chase and Capital One offer points back and many hotel chains and airline have portals too. With all these options it would be daunting to choose a portal but thankfully we have comparison sites like Cashback Monitor and Evrewards that list all of your options side by side.
How to Use Shopping Portals to Stack Rewards
- Use a credit card that earns rewards or cash back.
- click through an online shopping portal before making your online purchases.
- Use linked credit card offers. Like Dosh and AA SImply Miles.
- Spend deals linked to your credit card rewards account like Amex Offers and Chase Offers.
- Enroll in the stores own loyalty program.
Make Sure Portals Track Your Purchases Correctly
Shopping portals use cookies to make sure they correctly record your transaction so that they can credit your purchase back to you. It’s helpful to open private browsing (safari) or a new incognito window (Chrome) to avoid tracking issues.
Steps to Using a Cashback Portal
- Start at either Cashback Monitor or EvReward to search for the best rates on your preferred retailer. Then check Retail Me Not since they’re not always listed in the aggregator sites.
- Open an Incognito/Private window and login to your shopping portal account. (I don’t always do this- often I do my shopping and then click through the shopping portal when I’m ready to check out – but if you want to be assured of correct tracking for your order, fresh browser is the way to go.)
- Click through to the retailers site and place your order.
After you’ve completed the process a few time the steps above add about a minute to your online shopping transaction.
Best Shopping Portal in 2021
Top Cashback Referral Link
I love TCB because it consistently offers some of the highest rates, it’s super easy to use and the cashouts come with so many options including choices of gift cards with bonuses or straight money in the bank. This is among my top 3 most frequently used.
Rakuten Referral Link (You’ll Earn $40!)
I’ve been using Rakuten (previously Ebates) for years and it’s easily the most and transparent portal out there. I’ve never had issues and even better- you can choose to earn American Express Membership Rewards points instead of cash. They also have in store offers that allow you to earn cashback when you pay with a linked card.
Drop Referral Link
Drop is great for card linked offers and sometimes has the best cashback rates.
BeFrugal
I love BeFrugal because their coupons always work when they’re listed for specific retailers.
Swagbucks
Other Cash Back Sites and Apps I Use
Mr. Rebates
RebatesMe (Offering $30 Sign Up Bonus)
Simply Best
Active Junky
Iconsumer
MyPoints
My shopping portal experiences throughout the years have been mostly positive but there are some portals with issues recording purchases and paying out cash back earned. The good news is that many of the top options for cash back are excellent and continuously get better. I know there are many portals but it’s important to figure out which strategy works best for you- either choosing a few or keeping track of a bunch of accounts. The goal is to earn the highest cash back as often as you can while minimizing effort. Now that you know what you’re doing- share the love (and earn some referral bonuses) by referring your friends. Once you have the system figured out, don’t forget that most of the portals allow you to refer your friends and earn additional money.
Which shopping portals do you love? Or hate? LOL
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